DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but a couple of CDs and.ok, that's all I
own.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: What's up my homies? Yes, I'm still alive. I finally did it. This is the worst chapter I can possibly write (at least so far). It's an update though. Kinda long awaited. Kinda short. Whatever. Anyway, onward through the pages.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
He stood in front of the large window overlooking LA. It was almost time. Time to take over. He could feel his chance coming, the chance to overthrow the royal four once and for all. They would fall. And he would watch them and laugh. The system would be his entirely to do as he pleased. Then, maybe he would take Earth. Khivar raised his hand in front of his face, creating a bright red glow. This power was addictive. Too bad he wouldn't have it when he got home. Oh well, five planets would be his consolation.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Enter!"
"My lord," the man said, bowing respectfully. Khivar turned, raising an eyebrow in question. "We have just received word from our spy on Zerrella. King Larek has been searching for a linguist to translate a Carnasian prophecy."
Khivar grinned coldly. He sent a spiralling energy ball at the servant, making him fall to his knees in pain.
"Old news! You interrupt me to tell me things I already know!"
"No, sire. There is more," he panted, "King Larek has found a linguist from the old house of Carnath. He has translated the script." He stood up slowly, shakily handing an envelope to his master.
"Leave me," Khivar grunted, opening the envelope. Reading the contents, Khivar grinned evilly.
"Should we kill him?" asked Nicholas as he stepped out of the shadows.
"No. We'll let them have this information. In fact, make sure they get it." He tossed the file to Nicholas. "And tell the spy to tape their reaction. I've taken a liking to movies."
******************************* ****************************
Larek lay on his bed, looking through the skylight at the war torn planet of Antar. He'd had it built into his castle so that he could be close to home. Sometimes he felt lucky to have left Antar when he did. Other times, he felt guilty for marrying the princess of Zerrella and leaving his home planet to be taken over by that tyrant. Although, technically it wasn't his fault and he knew that. He wouldn't have been able to do anything about it even if he had stayed, but it still didn't affect his guilty conscience. His people were suffering while he lived peacefully, though still in fear, on Zerrella. It wasn't fair. That's why he vowed to help Zan as much as he could. Because no matter where he was or what title he had, Zan was still his king and his friend, and Antar was still his home.
Suddenly, he felt a small tingling at the back of his mind. Someone was trying to contact him. Sitting up, he pressed his hands together, then slowly dragged them apart, creating a round screen. He closed his eyes, opening himself up to whoever opened the communication.
"Your highness," said the woman on the other side.
"Cataleena," he greeted, "have you translated the script?"
"I have, your majesty, but the words disturb me."
"Why? What does it say?" asked Larek, getting worried.
"It says.."
**************************** **********************************
"Hey, Av, what're you doing?" Zan laughed ducking out of her way.
"Makin' a video, what's it look like?"
The extremely extended Scooby gang family were in the training room. Some of them slaving over dusty books, some closely examining magazines, while others sparred in the middle of the room. It wasn't time for patrolling yet, so they were just chilling. After being in Roswell for a week, Angel Investigations had gotten sucked into the rituals of the gang, easily fitting into the supernatural family. Even Connor was a little nicer. He didn't scowl quite as much and he had started calling Angel by his first name. Maria had put her foot down when she saw how hurt Angel would get when Connor spitefully called him 'Father'. She gave him a slayer sized slap on the back of the head, told him he was lucky to even have one and ordered him to be nicer or she would sic Isabel, or even her mother on him. That notion scared him stupid. He may not have been around humans long, but he knew who to push and when to run away, and Maria Deluca, Isabel Evans and Amy Valenti were not people to push. He behaved from then on, and Cordelia eventually deemed him worthy of living around normal people. He was now staying in the hotel with the rest of the LA crew.
"Ava, you know you can't do that, what if it gets into the wrong hands? The special unit could still be out there somewhere," Max said. She rolled her eyes.
"Take it easy, Max, its not like she's gonna show it in the middle of the crash festival or something. She doesn't even have to carry it anywhere to develop or anything," Isabel said, dismissively flipping through a magazine. Max looked around the room for help, but whoever wasn't making monkey faces at the camera, looked like they couldn't care less. He shrugged and went back to cuddling in the corner with Liz.
"C'mon, Max, stop being so lame," Anya admonished, "This is fun. Hey, maybe we can do my idea, you know, film Buffy and Michael sparring and sell it."
"What?" Serena asked. Serena and Oz had also joined in with the crew.
"We would get lots of money," Anya explained excitedly, "And then I could count it."
Serena laughed. "Good idea."
Just then, the basement door burst open. There was a sudden eerie silence as everyone turned to the doorway to see a slim curly haired man.
"Brody?"
"It's Larek," he said walking stiffly down the stairs. He glanced quickly around the room, stopping only to glare at Michael, before sitting on the only proper chair.
"What's up with you?" asked Zan.
"I've done the translation." They all stared at him.
"What translation?" asked Fred.
"Remember? In the summer?" Rath started.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"There is still a part of the scroll that needs to be decoded," he explained. He walked up to the counter and lay the document flat in front of it. Everyone crowded around him. "You see, here?" he said, pointing to a paragraph of symbols, "This is the part I just read. It is ancient Antarian. All nobles must learn the ancient languages of their planet, so it is easy for me to read." He pointed to another part. "This is another language altogether. I think it may be ancient Carnasian, or one of the other planets in our system."
"So, you can't translate it," Buffy stated.
"I could," he stated, "it will just take me a while. I would have to release this body and consult some books and the royal linguists. Someone should be able to translate it."
"So, you don't know anything at all? Nothing looks familiar?" asked Wesley.
"Just that it has something to do with the king," Larek said, a look of concentration on his face, "See this symbol? It means the same in any language: The King." Larek shook his head.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dude, didn't you say that would take a day? That was, like three months ago," Kyle pointed out.
"Finding a linguist that knows old Carnasian was harder than expected, after all it is a dead language and most of the Carnasian nobles are dead."
"Most of them are dead? What about the others?" asked Rath. Larek ignored the question.
"So, what's the translation?" asked Max.
"The prince will betray the beliefs of his father," he said glaring at Michael, "the king will die at his hand."
"Wait. Why are you looking at me?" Michael asked.
"You're the prince," Zan said, semi-suspiciously.
"But-"
"I think you should detain him."
"Wait a minute. I know Michael. He's my best friend, he would never betray us," Max said defensively. "What about Rath? He's the same person."
"Now you're really reaching, bro," Zan growled.
"How do we know? You heard the prophecy."
"So you agree. It's Michael."
"No, it has to be Rath. He's been evil before." Max ran his hands through his hair. "Ugh. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. It was probably a plan all along with Lonnie."
"It was an act!" Zan yelled in Max's face.
"How do you know?"
Michael glanced over at Rath who had a pissed off, though slightly sad look on his face. A look that he knew he probably had as well. He looked over at Larek who was still glaring at them.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "About the translation?"
"Yes," he said in a clipped tone.
"Are you sure? I mean Khivar could be messing with your head."
"My source can be trusted," he said coldly. "Now you may return to your leader and tell him that we've caught you. He won't be getting anymore inside information."
"Larek, that's enough. We don't have any proof," Isabel yelled over the shouting of her brothers.
"It is written."
"You can't believe everything that's written. Besides, where does it specify which prince? There are five planets in that system, I'm sure there's not only one," Faith said.
"I don't have kids, nor does the king of Ma'heala, or Pylea. The king of Carnath has been dead for years and the king of Antar is right here in this room."
".or maybe there is," Faith said, shrugging.
"What about Max's son?" asked Anya.
"No! I won't believe that anything that comes from Max could be evil," Liz contended. "Besides, he's just a baby, how could he kill Max?"
"Hello! Vampire baby born two months ago," Faith said, pointing at Connor.
"It's not the same," Liz insisted.
"Yes it is!"
They were interrupted by the slamming of the basement door. Everyone shut up as they noticed that both Rath and Michael were gone. Maria and Faith shook their heads at them and went after them.
"Why are you still here? They could be going back to Khivar right now, plotting a way to kill you," Larek said, "We should capture them now."
"Larek, get out! Just get out, now!" Isabel yelled, pointing to the door.
"You will see, princess, they will betray you and your brother will die. So says the prophecy." Larek walked out of the house head held high like the king he was.
"What do we do now?" asked Kyle.
"We go get our friends back. Come on, this is Michael and Rath we're talking about," Isabel exclaimed, "Max, Zan, if they really wanted to kill you, they would have done it already. They've had lots of chances."
"Yeah, guys, you should think about this," Serena added, "Do you really want to screw up ten years."
"Twelve," Ava corrected.
".Twelve years of friendship over a piece of paper?"
"What do you know? You don't even know them," Zan argued.
"I've seen enough to know."
"Ooh. A week. That's plenty."
"Shut up! Will you just shut the hell up?!" Cordelia yelled. "This is getting us nowhere. Zan, Max, you've been in this group for more what four months? You should know as well as I do, prophecies aren't everything. They can be stopped. They are your best friends. Come on! It's very vague as it is."
"I think she's right, Zan," Ava added, "Can you really see Rath killing you? Or Michael killing Max? It's not gonna happen."
"Besides, Larek's translator could be working for Khivar. They could've made that up just to split us up," Alex added.
"What do you think, Liz?" asked Max.
"I can see their point, Max. Michael has saved us both a whole bunch of times," she said, nodding her head. "But we should still be careful around both of them."
"Okay, Liz."
"You've got to be kidding me," Isabel grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"So it's settled. We won't pay attention to this prophecy. As far as we know, it's fake," he announced.
"Whatever. I can't believe you, Max." Out of the corner of her eye, Isabel could see a little red light. "Ava, will you turn that damn thing off?!"
****************************** *******************************
"Michael, wait!"
"What?! What do you want? To see if I head back to Khivar's place?" he replied, not stopping, "Tough luck. I'm not going there. Get your kicks somewhere else."
Shocked, Maria stopped in her tracks, staring at him in disbelief. What was he talking about? When she finally noticed the lead Michael had on her, she broke out in a sprint, pulling him back when she got to him.
"Michael, what are you talking about? I never accused you of working with Khivar. I never even thought it!"
"Maybe you didn't say it or think it, but you didn't even try to defend me. You just sat there and watched."
"B- I."
"Just leave me alone," he said softly, turning around and walking away. In his wake, car alarms went of in a symphony of screeches and beeps, and all the windows in a half-mile radius exploded into minuscule shards.
"Michael!"
He ignored her.
'Michael?' No response. He cut her off. That was the first time he mentally cut her off in months. She was going to kill Larek.
********************************* ******************************
Alex looked around at the broken ranks of a once tight group. It was amazing what one vague paragraph in one ancient prophecy could do. He couldn't believe that this was the same group of people that fought so hard against destiny. Why should they be so quick to believe the ancient writings of a dead society? For all they knew, they could be completely misinterpreting the whole thing or it could have been translated completely wrong, after all, the language had been dead for thousands of years and the people who would know how to read it were dead. They were relying on information from an unknown source.
Just then Maria slammed the door to the basement open, ripping it completely off its hinges and sending it sailing across the room, where it smashed to millions of little splinters. Alex could see that this was not going to be nice.
"What the freaking hell is wrong with you people?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "You're gonna believe a piece of paper over Michael and Rath? I don't believe this! Don't you think me or Faith would have noticed if something was wrong with them? If they were on the wrong side? We have mental access." She pointed to her head. "Not to mention Lorne. How many times has he read them? He would have seen if they were going to betray us."
The whole group was riveted to her heartfelt speech. The slayer was red in the face and crying, forcefully gripping the railing at the top of the stairs to keep her hands from shaking. Alex shook his head as the railing disintegrated under her grip. This was definitely not going to be nice.
"Maria's right."
"Shut up, Max!" He was stunned into silence. "You are just as bad as Zan. Maybe even worse."
"How? I never."
"Accused him? No. Maybe you didn't accuse him. But you accused his brother. You know Michael, he's always wanted a brother and here you are, basically saying that he's evil and out to kill you. And.and they're made from the same mold. You diss Rath, you're sure as hell dissing Michael too."
"Maria, calm down," Liz intervened.
"No I will not calm down."
"We already agreed that we wouldn't take that prophecy too seriously until we had proof," Max said.
"Gee, thanks fearless leader. We are forever indebted to you for your mercy," she said sarcastically, "That is crap and you know it. I don't care if you stand on your head and cluck. You are nothing right now because you still betrayed your best friends."
"I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be apologising to me. You should talk to Michael and Rath."
"Maria, where is Michael now?" Giles asked worriedly.
"I don't know. He stormed off. I'm worried about him. His powers are completely out of whack. He was exploding windows all the way."
"Can you tell him to come back? It could be dangerous. You remember what happened the last time they stormed off."
"I- I can't."
"Why not?"
"Uh.he cut me off." She sniffed. "Because I didn't say anything."
"Oh dear."
"What?"
"They're separated. Michael's weak now. If a demon were to attack him, he won't be able to protect himself."
"Believe me. Demons may be stupid, but I don't think they're stupid enough to attack him in this kind of mood."
*************************** *******************************
Michael grunted as the puke purple demon slammed his fist into his gut, sending him flying into a nearby tree. He'd gone to the park because he figured that there was nothing in the park that he could make explode and even if he did blow something up; there would be nobody there now to get hurt.
Coughing and sputtering, he raised his hand and released his energy on the demon.then something strange happened. All the fallen leaves and garbage around the park flew about in a huge tornado of chaos. Michael's eyes widened in surprise. That hadn't happened in at least a year. All his control, what little control he had was gone.
Taking advantage of the demon's moment of confusion, he turned and ran. It didn't take long for the demon to recover and start chasing after him. The demon was huge and heavy, so he wasn't very fast. That at least was a little good news. At least it was only one of them and not a whole pack, especially since all his fighting skills seemed to all go to.
Michael's train of thought was interrupted when he tripped on a root and fell smack on his face. What he wouldn't give for Alex's power right now. He winced as the demon pounced. This was gonna hurt. He was surprised when all he felt was something gooey dropping on his head. He cracked one eye open to see Rath standing above him, holding a hand out to him.
"Waiting to die, baby bro?"
"Stop calling me that," he grumbled, dusting himself off.
"Where's Maria?"
"Don't know."
"Huh. Shocking." Michael rolled his eyes and tried to clean himself off with his powers. Nothing happened. "Dude, this dependency's gonna be the death of the two of you."
Michael raised an eyebrow at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You and Maria. You're useless without each other. See? You can't fight and your powers are crap." Michael glared at him. "You cut her off didn't you?" He looked surprised. "C'mon, bro. We're the same person, basically, I'da done the same thing if I was as pissed off as you." Michael shrugged. "You just gotta think. Are you mad at her or mad at them?"
"What? Rath, stop tryin' to look smart it doesn't suit you."
"You do know you're dissing yourself, right?"
"Shut up."
******************************* *******************************
About an hour later, the Guerin brothers returned to the disaster site that was the training room. Faith had returned forty-five minutes before after leaving Rath to himself and now the whole group was awaiting their return in the slayer mansion.
"Where's Larek?"
"Gone. What happened to you?" asked Isabel.
"Demon."
"Huh. Guess they are stupid enough. Pay up, Maria," Spike said. She rolled her eyes and handed him ten bucks.
"What?" Rath asked, confused.
"Don't bother," Maria said, waving it off. "Anyway, Max, I think you have something to say?"
"Subtle, Maria," Kyle commented.
"Can we talk to you guys?"
After apologies were made, the grovelling ensued and all was forgiven, the gang decided to make up over a couple of pizza's, courtesy of Max and Zan. The living room was covered with bodies, pizza boxes and soft drink bottles.
"So, now that everybody's all happy again, can I ask a question?" Serena said. They all nodded. "What are you guys?"
About half the room choked on their food. They'd forgotten about Serena and Oz, more importantly, that they didn't know about the aliens.
"This is going to be a long night," Xander commented.
"We should just make a booklet for new members. Something like, 'So you're going to join the Scooby Gang?'"
"I don't think that's such a good idea Anya," said Max. She just shrugged and went back to her pizza.
"It all started in 1947."
********************************* *******************************
AUTHOR'S NOTE: What's up my homies? Yes, I'm still alive. I finally did it. This is the worst chapter I can possibly write (at least so far). It's an update though. Kinda long awaited. Kinda short. Whatever. Anyway, onward through the pages.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
He stood in front of the large window overlooking LA. It was almost time. Time to take over. He could feel his chance coming, the chance to overthrow the royal four once and for all. They would fall. And he would watch them and laugh. The system would be his entirely to do as he pleased. Then, maybe he would take Earth. Khivar raised his hand in front of his face, creating a bright red glow. This power was addictive. Too bad he wouldn't have it when he got home. Oh well, five planets would be his consolation.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Enter!"
"My lord," the man said, bowing respectfully. Khivar turned, raising an eyebrow in question. "We have just received word from our spy on Zerrella. King Larek has been searching for a linguist to translate a Carnasian prophecy."
Khivar grinned coldly. He sent a spiralling energy ball at the servant, making him fall to his knees in pain.
"Old news! You interrupt me to tell me things I already know!"
"No, sire. There is more," he panted, "King Larek has found a linguist from the old house of Carnath. He has translated the script." He stood up slowly, shakily handing an envelope to his master.
"Leave me," Khivar grunted, opening the envelope. Reading the contents, Khivar grinned evilly.
"Should we kill him?" asked Nicholas as he stepped out of the shadows.
"No. We'll let them have this information. In fact, make sure they get it." He tossed the file to Nicholas. "And tell the spy to tape their reaction. I've taken a liking to movies."
******************************* ****************************
Larek lay on his bed, looking through the skylight at the war torn planet of Antar. He'd had it built into his castle so that he could be close to home. Sometimes he felt lucky to have left Antar when he did. Other times, he felt guilty for marrying the princess of Zerrella and leaving his home planet to be taken over by that tyrant. Although, technically it wasn't his fault and he knew that. He wouldn't have been able to do anything about it even if he had stayed, but it still didn't affect his guilty conscience. His people were suffering while he lived peacefully, though still in fear, on Zerrella. It wasn't fair. That's why he vowed to help Zan as much as he could. Because no matter where he was or what title he had, Zan was still his king and his friend, and Antar was still his home.
Suddenly, he felt a small tingling at the back of his mind. Someone was trying to contact him. Sitting up, he pressed his hands together, then slowly dragged them apart, creating a round screen. He closed his eyes, opening himself up to whoever opened the communication.
"Your highness," said the woman on the other side.
"Cataleena," he greeted, "have you translated the script?"
"I have, your majesty, but the words disturb me."
"Why? What does it say?" asked Larek, getting worried.
"It says.."
**************************** **********************************
"Hey, Av, what're you doing?" Zan laughed ducking out of her way.
"Makin' a video, what's it look like?"
The extremely extended Scooby gang family were in the training room. Some of them slaving over dusty books, some closely examining magazines, while others sparred in the middle of the room. It wasn't time for patrolling yet, so they were just chilling. After being in Roswell for a week, Angel Investigations had gotten sucked into the rituals of the gang, easily fitting into the supernatural family. Even Connor was a little nicer. He didn't scowl quite as much and he had started calling Angel by his first name. Maria had put her foot down when she saw how hurt Angel would get when Connor spitefully called him 'Father'. She gave him a slayer sized slap on the back of the head, told him he was lucky to even have one and ordered him to be nicer or she would sic Isabel, or even her mother on him. That notion scared him stupid. He may not have been around humans long, but he knew who to push and when to run away, and Maria Deluca, Isabel Evans and Amy Valenti were not people to push. He behaved from then on, and Cordelia eventually deemed him worthy of living around normal people. He was now staying in the hotel with the rest of the LA crew.
"Ava, you know you can't do that, what if it gets into the wrong hands? The special unit could still be out there somewhere," Max said. She rolled her eyes.
"Take it easy, Max, its not like she's gonna show it in the middle of the crash festival or something. She doesn't even have to carry it anywhere to develop or anything," Isabel said, dismissively flipping through a magazine. Max looked around the room for help, but whoever wasn't making monkey faces at the camera, looked like they couldn't care less. He shrugged and went back to cuddling in the corner with Liz.
"C'mon, Max, stop being so lame," Anya admonished, "This is fun. Hey, maybe we can do my idea, you know, film Buffy and Michael sparring and sell it."
"What?" Serena asked. Serena and Oz had also joined in with the crew.
"We would get lots of money," Anya explained excitedly, "And then I could count it."
Serena laughed. "Good idea."
Just then, the basement door burst open. There was a sudden eerie silence as everyone turned to the doorway to see a slim curly haired man.
"Brody?"
"It's Larek," he said walking stiffly down the stairs. He glanced quickly around the room, stopping only to glare at Michael, before sitting on the only proper chair.
"What's up with you?" asked Zan.
"I've done the translation." They all stared at him.
"What translation?" asked Fred.
"Remember? In the summer?" Rath started.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"There is still a part of the scroll that needs to be decoded," he explained. He walked up to the counter and lay the document flat in front of it. Everyone crowded around him. "You see, here?" he said, pointing to a paragraph of symbols, "This is the part I just read. It is ancient Antarian. All nobles must learn the ancient languages of their planet, so it is easy for me to read." He pointed to another part. "This is another language altogether. I think it may be ancient Carnasian, or one of the other planets in our system."
"So, you can't translate it," Buffy stated.
"I could," he stated, "it will just take me a while. I would have to release this body and consult some books and the royal linguists. Someone should be able to translate it."
"So, you don't know anything at all? Nothing looks familiar?" asked Wesley.
"Just that it has something to do with the king," Larek said, a look of concentration on his face, "See this symbol? It means the same in any language: The King." Larek shook his head.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Dude, didn't you say that would take a day? That was, like three months ago," Kyle pointed out.
"Finding a linguist that knows old Carnasian was harder than expected, after all it is a dead language and most of the Carnasian nobles are dead."
"Most of them are dead? What about the others?" asked Rath. Larek ignored the question.
"So, what's the translation?" asked Max.
"The prince will betray the beliefs of his father," he said glaring at Michael, "the king will die at his hand."
"Wait. Why are you looking at me?" Michael asked.
"You're the prince," Zan said, semi-suspiciously.
"But-"
"I think you should detain him."
"Wait a minute. I know Michael. He's my best friend, he would never betray us," Max said defensively. "What about Rath? He's the same person."
"Now you're really reaching, bro," Zan growled.
"How do we know? You heard the prophecy."
"So you agree. It's Michael."
"No, it has to be Rath. He's been evil before." Max ran his hands through his hair. "Ugh. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him. It was probably a plan all along with Lonnie."
"It was an act!" Zan yelled in Max's face.
"How do you know?"
Michael glanced over at Rath who had a pissed off, though slightly sad look on his face. A look that he knew he probably had as well. He looked over at Larek who was still glaring at them.
"Are you sure?" he asked. "About the translation?"
"Yes," he said in a clipped tone.
"Are you sure? I mean Khivar could be messing with your head."
"My source can be trusted," he said coldly. "Now you may return to your leader and tell him that we've caught you. He won't be getting anymore inside information."
"Larek, that's enough. We don't have any proof," Isabel yelled over the shouting of her brothers.
"It is written."
"You can't believe everything that's written. Besides, where does it specify which prince? There are five planets in that system, I'm sure there's not only one," Faith said.
"I don't have kids, nor does the king of Ma'heala, or Pylea. The king of Carnath has been dead for years and the king of Antar is right here in this room."
".or maybe there is," Faith said, shrugging.
"What about Max's son?" asked Anya.
"No! I won't believe that anything that comes from Max could be evil," Liz contended. "Besides, he's just a baby, how could he kill Max?"
"Hello! Vampire baby born two months ago," Faith said, pointing at Connor.
"It's not the same," Liz insisted.
"Yes it is!"
They were interrupted by the slamming of the basement door. Everyone shut up as they noticed that both Rath and Michael were gone. Maria and Faith shook their heads at them and went after them.
"Why are you still here? They could be going back to Khivar right now, plotting a way to kill you," Larek said, "We should capture them now."
"Larek, get out! Just get out, now!" Isabel yelled, pointing to the door.
"You will see, princess, they will betray you and your brother will die. So says the prophecy." Larek walked out of the house head held high like the king he was.
"What do we do now?" asked Kyle.
"We go get our friends back. Come on, this is Michael and Rath we're talking about," Isabel exclaimed, "Max, Zan, if they really wanted to kill you, they would have done it already. They've had lots of chances."
"Yeah, guys, you should think about this," Serena added, "Do you really want to screw up ten years."
"Twelve," Ava corrected.
".Twelve years of friendship over a piece of paper?"
"What do you know? You don't even know them," Zan argued.
"I've seen enough to know."
"Ooh. A week. That's plenty."
"Shut up! Will you just shut the hell up?!" Cordelia yelled. "This is getting us nowhere. Zan, Max, you've been in this group for more what four months? You should know as well as I do, prophecies aren't everything. They can be stopped. They are your best friends. Come on! It's very vague as it is."
"I think she's right, Zan," Ava added, "Can you really see Rath killing you? Or Michael killing Max? It's not gonna happen."
"Besides, Larek's translator could be working for Khivar. They could've made that up just to split us up," Alex added.
"What do you think, Liz?" asked Max.
"I can see their point, Max. Michael has saved us both a whole bunch of times," she said, nodding her head. "But we should still be careful around both of them."
"Okay, Liz."
"You've got to be kidding me," Isabel grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"So it's settled. We won't pay attention to this prophecy. As far as we know, it's fake," he announced.
"Whatever. I can't believe you, Max." Out of the corner of her eye, Isabel could see a little red light. "Ava, will you turn that damn thing off?!"
****************************** *******************************
"Michael, wait!"
"What?! What do you want? To see if I head back to Khivar's place?" he replied, not stopping, "Tough luck. I'm not going there. Get your kicks somewhere else."
Shocked, Maria stopped in her tracks, staring at him in disbelief. What was he talking about? When she finally noticed the lead Michael had on her, she broke out in a sprint, pulling him back when she got to him.
"Michael, what are you talking about? I never accused you of working with Khivar. I never even thought it!"
"Maybe you didn't say it or think it, but you didn't even try to defend me. You just sat there and watched."
"B- I."
"Just leave me alone," he said softly, turning around and walking away. In his wake, car alarms went of in a symphony of screeches and beeps, and all the windows in a half-mile radius exploded into minuscule shards.
"Michael!"
He ignored her.
'Michael?' No response. He cut her off. That was the first time he mentally cut her off in months. She was going to kill Larek.
********************************* ******************************
Alex looked around at the broken ranks of a once tight group. It was amazing what one vague paragraph in one ancient prophecy could do. He couldn't believe that this was the same group of people that fought so hard against destiny. Why should they be so quick to believe the ancient writings of a dead society? For all they knew, they could be completely misinterpreting the whole thing or it could have been translated completely wrong, after all, the language had been dead for thousands of years and the people who would know how to read it were dead. They were relying on information from an unknown source.
Just then Maria slammed the door to the basement open, ripping it completely off its hinges and sending it sailing across the room, where it smashed to millions of little splinters. Alex could see that this was not going to be nice.
"What the freaking hell is wrong with you people?!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "You're gonna believe a piece of paper over Michael and Rath? I don't believe this! Don't you think me or Faith would have noticed if something was wrong with them? If they were on the wrong side? We have mental access." She pointed to her head. "Not to mention Lorne. How many times has he read them? He would have seen if they were going to betray us."
The whole group was riveted to her heartfelt speech. The slayer was red in the face and crying, forcefully gripping the railing at the top of the stairs to keep her hands from shaking. Alex shook his head as the railing disintegrated under her grip. This was definitely not going to be nice.
"Maria's right."
"Shut up, Max!" He was stunned into silence. "You are just as bad as Zan. Maybe even worse."
"How? I never."
"Accused him? No. Maybe you didn't accuse him. But you accused his brother. You know Michael, he's always wanted a brother and here you are, basically saying that he's evil and out to kill you. And.and they're made from the same mold. You diss Rath, you're sure as hell dissing Michael too."
"Maria, calm down," Liz intervened.
"No I will not calm down."
"We already agreed that we wouldn't take that prophecy too seriously until we had proof," Max said.
"Gee, thanks fearless leader. We are forever indebted to you for your mercy," she said sarcastically, "That is crap and you know it. I don't care if you stand on your head and cluck. You are nothing right now because you still betrayed your best friends."
"I'm sorry."
"You shouldn't be apologising to me. You should talk to Michael and Rath."
"Maria, where is Michael now?" Giles asked worriedly.
"I don't know. He stormed off. I'm worried about him. His powers are completely out of whack. He was exploding windows all the way."
"Can you tell him to come back? It could be dangerous. You remember what happened the last time they stormed off."
"I- I can't."
"Why not?"
"Uh.he cut me off." She sniffed. "Because I didn't say anything."
"Oh dear."
"What?"
"They're separated. Michael's weak now. If a demon were to attack him, he won't be able to protect himself."
"Believe me. Demons may be stupid, but I don't think they're stupid enough to attack him in this kind of mood."
*************************** *******************************
Michael grunted as the puke purple demon slammed his fist into his gut, sending him flying into a nearby tree. He'd gone to the park because he figured that there was nothing in the park that he could make explode and even if he did blow something up; there would be nobody there now to get hurt.
Coughing and sputtering, he raised his hand and released his energy on the demon.then something strange happened. All the fallen leaves and garbage around the park flew about in a huge tornado of chaos. Michael's eyes widened in surprise. That hadn't happened in at least a year. All his control, what little control he had was gone.
Taking advantage of the demon's moment of confusion, he turned and ran. It didn't take long for the demon to recover and start chasing after him. The demon was huge and heavy, so he wasn't very fast. That at least was a little good news. At least it was only one of them and not a whole pack, especially since all his fighting skills seemed to all go to.
Michael's train of thought was interrupted when he tripped on a root and fell smack on his face. What he wouldn't give for Alex's power right now. He winced as the demon pounced. This was gonna hurt. He was surprised when all he felt was something gooey dropping on his head. He cracked one eye open to see Rath standing above him, holding a hand out to him.
"Waiting to die, baby bro?"
"Stop calling me that," he grumbled, dusting himself off.
"Where's Maria?"
"Don't know."
"Huh. Shocking." Michael rolled his eyes and tried to clean himself off with his powers. Nothing happened. "Dude, this dependency's gonna be the death of the two of you."
Michael raised an eyebrow at him. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"You and Maria. You're useless without each other. See? You can't fight and your powers are crap." Michael glared at him. "You cut her off didn't you?" He looked surprised. "C'mon, bro. We're the same person, basically, I'da done the same thing if I was as pissed off as you." Michael shrugged. "You just gotta think. Are you mad at her or mad at them?"
"What? Rath, stop tryin' to look smart it doesn't suit you."
"You do know you're dissing yourself, right?"
"Shut up."
******************************* *******************************
About an hour later, the Guerin brothers returned to the disaster site that was the training room. Faith had returned forty-five minutes before after leaving Rath to himself and now the whole group was awaiting their return in the slayer mansion.
"Where's Larek?"
"Gone. What happened to you?" asked Isabel.
"Demon."
"Huh. Guess they are stupid enough. Pay up, Maria," Spike said. She rolled her eyes and handed him ten bucks.
"What?" Rath asked, confused.
"Don't bother," Maria said, waving it off. "Anyway, Max, I think you have something to say?"
"Subtle, Maria," Kyle commented.
"Can we talk to you guys?"
After apologies were made, the grovelling ensued and all was forgiven, the gang decided to make up over a couple of pizza's, courtesy of Max and Zan. The living room was covered with bodies, pizza boxes and soft drink bottles.
"So, now that everybody's all happy again, can I ask a question?" Serena said. They all nodded. "What are you guys?"
About half the room choked on their food. They'd forgotten about Serena and Oz, more importantly, that they didn't know about the aliens.
"This is going to be a long night," Xander commented.
"We should just make a booklet for new members. Something like, 'So you're going to join the Scooby Gang?'"
"I don't think that's such a good idea Anya," said Max. She just shrugged and went back to her pizza.
"It all started in 1947."
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